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Ernie Button

Clearing the Land

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Clearing the Land

As with most American cities in the 2000s, Phoenix was enjoying the housing boom. In the area where I live in Phoenix, builders were clearing wide sections of land preparing to cash in on the impending construction of many, many houses. A construction sign would go up announcing the arrival of a new community and I knew the fate of those trees, that vegetation. The palm trees that had been growing for decades were cleared, removed or altered in preparation for the construction. Unfortunately, the housing bubble burst and all this preparation was for naught. The land was quickly flattened and then quickly abandoned. Now the razed palm trees have been removed and are no more and all that remains is a vacant lot of dirt and tire tracks: no house, no landscape. These images are a record of what was.